The Outsider
by Unwillingly Me
Summary: The worst mistake Ty Lee made was joining a matched set willingly in order to run away from everything. Namely Azula.


**So yeah. Again, probably should working on my multi-chapter fix a, but this came to mind while I was doing homework. So here it is. Ty Lee, all about Ty Lee be cause why not? Ty Lee's pretty great.**

 **Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Bryan and Mike, not me.**

* * *

Ty Lee didn't mind Azula's temper. Not when they were children. Not when they were teens. Well, not until she tried killing Mai. That might have pushed Ty Lee to the point where she had to mind Azula's mannerisms and behavior. After all, she couldn't have Azula kill Mai. Friends weren't supposed to turn against each

Maybe the three of them had never really been friends then. That made sense. If friends didn't turn against each other, then Ty Lee must not have been friends with Azula, and neither had Mai. Yeah, that made some sort of sense. So what if it wasn't the best logic in the world. At least she had a reason that she had hit Azula though. At least there was some sort justification.

It wasn't good enough though, and Ty Lee knew it. She joined the Kyoshi Warriors for spirits' sake. She had willingly become part of a matched set, which she would have never done if she felt that chi blocking Azula had been completely justified. She really just wanted to go back to the circus.

But she couldn't do that. Not when it had been Azula that had pulled her out. Not when it had been Azula that had practically dragged her out. She couldn't stay with her parents and sisters. At least she didn't look exactly like the other Kyoshi Warriors. There were some differences. Ty Lee was more flexible. She was a better fighter. She could jump higher. She could chi block, which was something none of the Kyoshi Warriors could

She could play Pai Sho better than the rest of them. She knew more teas than they did. She knew more in general. But what was to be expected when Kyoshi Island had isolated themselves from the rest of the world until recently?

She hated it. She was a part of a matched set, and she was expected to stay. Expected to be their informant, teacher, instructor on the outside world. There was a _set way to do things there, and she hated it._

 _No, Ty Lee, do it like this._

 _No, that's not how it's done._

 _Redirect my strike, not jump out of the way and throw your own. That's not how it's done._

She hated it all. The rules that she had to follow. The clothes she had to wear—identical to everyone else's. Green. Sure, green was a nice color. But not when everyone else that surrounded her was wearing it too. The same green outfit on every Kyoshi Warrior.

So what if in the Fire Nation, everyone wore red? At least there were different shades of red. And there wasn't a rule that you had to wear only red. Black, brown, grey, maroon, red. Ty Lee wore pink practically every day in the Fire Nation. Here, she was wearing green. The same green as the others while average citizens wore the same blue, save the governor, who literally just wore a darker shade of blue.

There was nothing different about the island, and there was swiftly decreasing amount of things that Ty Lee liked about living there.

If she was going to be honest, she missed being with Azula and Mai. That's what she loved doing. She loved being with them, whether they were completely a dangerous meeting or on vacation on Ember Island.

Just because she was wearing their clothes and make up didn't mean she was one of them. Just because they knew her name and thought of her as a Kyoshi Warrior didn't mean she was one. She wasn't. She was Ty Lee. Not a Kyoshi Warrior. Not an Earth Kingdom peasant. Peasant—that sounded like something that Azula would say to her.

 _You're not one of these peasants, Ty Lee. They should be groveling at the sight of me. And to a degree, you. You are a noble after all._

Yes, that sounded like something Azula would say. Down to the groveling and use of the term peasant.

Green was becoming more and more unpleasant as time progressed. Same with dull, monochromatic blue—not nearly as bright and comforting as the flames Ty Lee had become accustomed to seeing. The ocean was becoming tiring. The fans were giving her callouses on her hands that messed her mind—reminding her that she was unused to them because she wasn't a Kyoshi Warrior. Perhaps they were keeping her around to keep an eye on her. Because she had helped capture Suki and others. Because she had been friends with Azula.

Could she say that she still was? She had been thrown in prison by Azula. And then after Azula had been imprisoned, Ty Lee ran away to the Earth Kingdom. Seemed awfully cowardly of her. Especially now that she was recognizing the fact that she was running away from Azula. Running away from ever confronting the princess if she was ever released from the institution she was locked in. Because that was what made sense at the time.

Now, all she wanted was to go out and find Azula, wherever she may be. Institution or not. It didn't even have a logical reason or decent justification. She just wanted to find Azula and apologize for running away and never visiting. For betraying her. She wanted to apologize for everything. Anything that she might have done.

And it made sense to her. Why should she stay in a place she didn't belong? She had left her home and had gone to the circus. If she could do that, she definitely could leave a group of girls she had no emotional attachment to.

But she couldn't. She had been immersed in their lives—in their customs—and she couldn't find her way out. Almost like she was drowning in the ocean after having her legs bitten off by the Unagi. It sounded crazy, but it made sense to her. She couldn't leave, despite wanting to. It was like the Kyoshi Warriors had tied her to the bottom of a gondola and left her hanging there with her hands bound.

No. It wasn't like that. It was like she had done it to herself. And that made it worse. It had been her that had put herself in the worse situation possible. And it was excruciatingly painful to know that. Could she say that this may be worse than how she would have felt had she allowed Azula to kill Mai?

* * *

"Ty Lee, I've told you, you can't—"

"I'm done." Ty Lee cut some Kyoshi Warrior off quietly. Not like she could actually tell them apart when they were wearing the makeup. "I'm done with this."

And with that, she dropped her fans and walked out of the dojo. There was nothing left here for her. She was sick of it. Sick of the clothes, of the makeup, of the structure that would never bend for anything—let alone a girl from the Fire Nation.

"Ty Lee!" She ignored the calls. Ignored the people staring at her as she exited from her room with her own pink clothes on with her bright red bag in hand. Ignored how they stared at her poorly removed makeup and very unhappy facial expression. The only time she actually reacted to anything as she started preparing a boat for herself was when Suki tried to have her stay.

Even then, she only shook her head. Because she may have worn their clothes and their makeup and learned to use their fans, but she wasn't like them. She was an outsider trying to find a home in a place she didn't belong. That was what she had done when she lived with her family.

She belonged in either a circus or in the waiting room of the asylum Azula was in. That was all. Because she was Ty Lee, and that's all she was. Sure, she was from a noble family. Sure, she had sisters. Sure, she was smart and able to beat General Iroh at Pai Sho when she actually put forth the effort, but she was Ty

She was herself. And all she wanted to do was find Azula. People had obsessions. Ty Lee's might have been Azula. Azula's was power. Mai's was finding an equilibrium in her life. Zuko's was honor. Aang's? Peace. Katara's? Hope. Ty Lee needed to see Azula. Needed to say she was sorry.

* * *

It took longer than it should have to sail to the capital city. She was tired and hungry, and she eagerly accepted the meal she was offered by Zuko. And she wasted no time in asking about Azula. There was no way that he wanted to actually relinquish the information, but he did anyways. Maybe he would feel bad later if he didn't. Or maybe he just thought he would feel bad. Maybe he'd regret it later.

Looking into Azula's dead looking eyes made her blood freeze. Because maybe she could have kept this from happening. Maybe none of this would have happened had she never saved Mai. Maybe she could have been prepared if she hadn't run away. Whatever reason, she wasn't ready for Azula to just stare at her with eyes that no longer held the fiery life that once was there. She wasn't ready for Azula to look away and mutter that she was just another illusion.

She wasn't not prepared for Azula to start crying and screaming that Ty Lee wasn't there—that it was just another hallucination. She wasn't ready to leave when the staff carried her out. Because she shouldn't have left in the first place.

Even outside the asylum, she could hear Azula's screams. Even in her sleep, she could hear them. They were imprinted into her memory forever, refreshed every day when she revisited Azula from dawn to dusk.


End file.
